Department of Sociology

Department of Sociology
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London
WC2A 2AE

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7106 1426

See Who's who| for a complete list of all people working in the Department and how to contact them.

We are based on the second floor of St Clement's Building.

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Related research centres and British Journal of Sociology

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Welcome to the Department of Sociology, which has played a key role in establishing and developing the discipline since 1904. Today we remain committed to providing top quality teaching, and to research and scholarship which is leading the evolution of the social sciences into new intellectual areas and the study of the social problems and ethical dilemmas facing a cosmopolitan and fractured society.

QS World University Rankings 2015 puts the Department first in Europe and fifth in the world for sociology.

A day-long seminar with Thomas Piketty, whose Capital in the Twenty-First Century has been of global significance in shaping debates about inequality across the globe. The workshop will be hosted by LSE's new International Inequalities Institute with the Department of Sociology at LSE and the British Journal of Sociology, which ran a special issue of reviews on Piketty’s book, several of the contributors to which will be involved in these discussions.

There will be four sessions, and the event is free but will require registration. Book from the LSE Online Store (eShop) from 20 April.

Please follow link above to the draft programme, and watch this space for updates. See event poster| (PDF).

What kinds of cities are emerging as urbanisation grows alongside worsening inequality? Why does urban inequality matter, and what is distinctive about urban inequalities now? Public lecture by Professor Fran Tonkiss on 6 May, 6.30pm in the New Theatre, open to all, follow link above for more info.

LSE Sociology has launched a new working paper series. The first paper, by Daniel Laurison and Sam Friedman, is entitled ‘Introducing The Class Ceiling: Social Mobility and Britain’s Elite Occupations’. The paper argues for a new research agenda in social mobility research that goes beyond the issue of ‘access’ and examines the barriers that those from working-class backgrounds face within elite occupations. Here, Laurison and Friedman argue, it is possible to detect a powerful and previously unrecognised ‘class ceiling’ preventing the socially mobile from reaching the highest incomes. Follow link above to read the paper online (PDF).

Follow link above to watch a video with Professor Bridget Hutter and Martin Lodge made for LSE's Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation (CARR). Professor Hutter's research on Preventing disease and death from food-borne pathogens also featured as a REF 2014 LSE Research Impact case study. You can watch the Regulatory Impact Video here: Preventing disease and death from food-borne pathogens|.

For information on all our programmes, including the new MSc Inequalities and Social Science launching in 2015, and how to apply, please see our Study pages|.

Dr Sam Friedman’s recent book Comedy and Distinction: the cultural currency of a ‘good’ sense of humour (Routledge, 2014) has been nominated for the prestigious BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize - awarded to the best first and sole-authored book within the discipline of sociology.

LSE Sociology has experienced major rebuilding since 2008, with seventeen new academic appointments, research funding worth over £9 million and one of the largest PhD programmes in the UK, proportionate to staff size.

Responding to the results of the Research Excellence Framework 2014, Head of Department Mike Savage said: ‘I am delighted that the results show the amount of our world-leading (4*) and internationally excellent (3*) activity increasing hugely from 45% to 80% in only six years, making us the most rapidly advancing Sociology Department in the country. I am especially thrilled that the quality of our publications has been rated as amongst the top in the UK, with the Department ranked second in the UK for the percentage of its research receiving the very highest (4*) grade’. Follow link above for the full story.

To read more about research developments in the Department and case studies by our faculty see our webpage Research impact|.

We now have two virtual pinboards on visual bookmarking site Pinterest, one for books, blogposts and podcasts by our faculty and academic visitors, and one for our public event posters. You can take a look without joining Pinterest or, if you join, you can pin anything of interest to your own display. Follow link above or look out for the 'P' in the red square on our webpages!

New and recent publications by LSE Sociology faculty (scroll down for articles and reports):

"Democratizing Inequalities is a timely and provocative compilation that demonstrates how participatory practices across a range of expected and unexpected locations cut both ways—opening up avenues for citizen engagement while also limiting the democratic potential assumed to follow... an important resource for researchers and practitioners interested in the democratic possibilities of the 'new public participation.'" —Debra Minkoff, author of Organizing for Equality.

Michael McQuarrie is Associate Professor in Sociology at LSE. Craig Calhoun is Director of LSE.

While the 1% rule, poor neighbourhoods have become the subject of public concern and media scorn, blamed for society's ills. This unique book redresses the balance.

"The stories within this book lay bare what it means to be regarded as inferior and an outcast in your own society. This is a resolutely impressive book written with authenticity and passion." —Mary O'Hara, journalist and author of Austerity Bites.

Lisa Mckenzie is Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology at LSE.

"Wajcman integrates the voluminous literatures on time use and technology elegantly and concisely, a great service in itself. But, more important, she wisely leads the reader to new questions, more interesting and fruitful than the ones to which we are accustomed, helping us to think in terms not of quantities (of time or stress, of work or leisure) but of the flows and rhythms that we produce as we interact with technology and with one another. This is an essential addition to any bookshelf or syllabus on the social implications of information technology.”-- Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University

"Nigel Dodd is one of the leading experts on the sociology of money. His excellent new book is a tour de force through sociological, economic, and philosophical theories of money, rich in historical examples and informed by current controversies. Highly original and broad in scope, the book will be a landmark in the sociology of money and will help us to rethink how money is organized in society."--Jens Beckert, director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies

Nigel Dodd is Professor of Sociology at LSE.

Recent articles, reports and other publications include:

Dr Suzanne Hall guest edits online journal Discover Society (February 2015) on the topic of immigration, the implications of the UK's Immigration Act 2014, and the immigration talk that provides a focus for the 2015 national election. Other contributors include LSE's Ruben Andersson on 'Border Control is out of Control' and Robin Cohen on 'More Farage, More Immigration'. Focus: Migration and Election 2015|.

A special Symposium edition of the BJS (December 2014) containing eleven original articles discussing various aspects and implications of Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century across sociology as well as other social science disciplines, with an introduction by Professor Nigel Dodd as Editor and an article by Professor Mike Savage: British Journal of Sociology Special Issue: Piketty Symposium|.

Mike Savage guest edits online journal Discover Society (Dec 2014) with John Holmwood on the topic of elites, wealth and inequality, and contributes an article: 'Social change in the 21st century: the new sociology of ‘wealth elites.’' Other contributors include Nigel Dodd and LSE Sociology research student Katharina Hecht: The New Sociology of Wealth Elites|.

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